MAXIMISE ONLINE SALES IN Q4
Google Gives Delegates Key Insights to Maximising Profit
If you’re in retail, we imagine talk of ‘Q4’ is ingrained as one of the busiest sales periods of the year.
When Kelsey Bower, Agency Development Manager at Google, agreed to lead a virtual Future Focus lab on ‘Maximising online sales in Q4’ we naturally jumped for joy.
Here’s the low down of the key points Kelsey shared during the lab.
How have consumers in the UK adapted their shopping behaviours?
As you would imagine, over recent months there’s been a big increase in sales of fashion, home and electronics items. Convenience is now deemed the most important factor for consumers when shopping “…so be available. Display shopping hours and online chat options, if you have them” says Kelsey
She continues;
Make it easy for your customers. Do things like provide automatic access rather than having to login before you can shop: take away the barriers.
Sustainability continues to be important for consumers. 62% of shoppers want to see that your business cares about sustainability” says Kelsey, reaffirming that sustainability isn’t a ‘nice to have’, it is now expected.
Which events are important for Q4?
You’ve probably got big retail shopping events like Christmas Day, Boxing Day and New Year’s Day etched in every calendar going. Here’s a quick overview of some of the other key shopping days this quarter:
- Singles Day on the 11th November: 55% of people buy things for themselves on this day.
- Black Friday on the 27th November in the UK. Searches increase by 20% on Black Friday. Searches tend to begin from the start of November.
Kelsey’s top tips on how to get your Google ads ready for seasonality:
- Get ready for the peak sales period to start earlier this year as retailers all focus on their online presence.
- Make sure you have sufficient budget headroom to capture increasing demand so you don’t miss out.
- Include seasonal keywords to be as relevant as possible to the customers searching e.g. Halloween pumpkin outfit.
- Ensure you have a clear call to action.
- Create sense of urgency e.g. 50% off until Tuesday, Limited time offer, last shipping date.
- Look into smart bidding on Google. Smart bidding looks at real time shifts in search trends and auto adjusts your bids on keywords without you having to go into your account and manually adjust.
- Consider using the performance planner in Google ads account to plan ad campaigns which follow seasonal trends using optimal budget.
We hope you have found this blog useful.
Want more?
With Q4 well underway, our sights are set on preparing for Q1 with another workshop series planned for November. If your online business would benefit from some new thinking and expertise, fill out our short interactive form now.